A BEACONSFIELD engineer warns the latest green building fad is “another asbestos” waiting to happen.

Raffael Commorano awoke Sunday to find “snow” blanketing much of his Michael Street yard and swimming pool.

The “snow” was fine particles of polystyrene, blown from wall panels being cut for a new house next door. The polystyrene is sandwiched between panels of fibre cement and is an increasingly popular insulation material because of its lightness and strength.

Dr Commorano, who holds an honours degree in mechanical engineering and a doctorate in mechanical/materials engineering, is fuming over the cavalier approach to the product, which he says becomes toxic when heated or cut.

“The toxic nature of this stuff is documented in peer review journals, especially when heated or cut … that’s when you get styrene monomer, or vinyl benzene, which is a known neurotoxin and potentially a carcinogen,” explains Dr Commorano, who has been involved in working with nano particles and says it’s the small, invisible particles that pose the greatest danger.

• Raffael Commorano says dust from polystyrene insulation is carcinogenic—so he’s not happy it’s blowing all over his Beaconsfield yard, his vegies and his kids. Photo by Matthew Dwyer

“It gets into your system and accumulates in the liver because it’s fat-soluble … and the smaller the particles the more soluble it becomes. This is another asbestos.”

He says there “doesn’t seem to be any protocols or safeguards in place” on the worksite next door and notes the workers had “no masks and seemed oblivious to the dangers”.

“All it would have taken was an industrial vacuum cleaner to suck up the dust and particles,” he notes. “I’ve got a young son and daughter, grow vegies, have a fishpond … I had to come indoors on Sunday, a day when builders shouldn’t be working anyway.”

A Worksafe spokeswoman concedes there are no specific protocols for working with polystyrene panels or disposal of waste, and referred the Herald to a general duty of care section and offered to get an inspector to call us back.

The builder has apologised to Dr Commorano and promised to clean up the mess. The council handballed the issue from compliance to health but did eventually instruct the builder to “contain and sensibly dispose of the polystyrene waste dust”.

The Herald saw a worker arrive at Dr Commorano’s house armed with vac-blower but left when he realised it was not a five-minute clean-up, vowing to talk to his boss and return.

The builder did not return calls from the Herald.

“I can’t believe the authorities aren’t telling builders to use a vacuum cleaner,” Dr Commorano says. “It’s not rocket science.”

by EDDIE ALBRECHT